"Uh...hey Jose." - Luis #1
"Si?" - Joe
"Yeah, Joe, we still have a lot...a lot of wall stones. You know Jose, muchos." - Luis#1
"Usa las pierdas por the corner? Como se dice, garden bed in the front?" - Joe
"Si, Jose, we can do that." - Luis #1
"Perfecto!" - Joe
The loose exchange of me practicing Spanish (poorly) and Luis #1's tolerance of me trying led to the creation of a garden bed on our Northeast corner of the lot.
The beginning- Before I could even get a picture, Luis #2 had marked out the area and pulled out the sod. He leveled the area and began placing stones around the edge.
Luis #2 kept asking me in Spanish how I wanted the stones. I kept telling him in Spanish to have fun with it. I was just hoping for the best.
By days end on Saturday or 'fin dia a Sabado' as I would say (Luis #1 would shake is head no right now), the corner flower bed was established. I was directed to go buy some plants and pick up some soil prep and compost for planting on Sunday. The bed was edged and included two raised square spots in the front for urns or pots.
The next morning I came back with some rose, lirope, marigold, coleus, and pansy plants. Luis #1 brought his son Issac to help out. Issac was your typical high school kid who enjoyed sleeping in despite the fact that his old man was an early riser. Anyways, he did a great job helping out. This is what the bed looked life after the planting. I had two plastic pots that were put out on the raised square part in the front.
Below is the street view. The flowers were thin when they were first installed. I only had two pallets of flowers. One of marigolds and one of pansies. The pansies and marigolds were split up and planted in various spots in the garden. I spent most July mornings watering the bed. Didn't realize how much work it was going to be. I replaced the plastic terra cotta colored pots with some clay pots I bought at a place called 'Old Time Pottery'. At $15 a piece they were a steal. I also resurrected the old address number plate that was previously hidden among some ragged ewes that we replaced.
The corner bed up close. I didn't use any fertilizers/Miracle Grow. I did place a hand full of compost at the base of the roses. I have two yellow roses on the right and left and a double knock out red rose in the center. The yellow ones are your basic hybrid rose which were constantly losing leaves and subject to blackspot while the knockout had few problems. The yellow roses smelled awesome, but only bloomed a few times. They look bad, but I don't care too much otherwise I would have done some research to make them better. Next year I will get them. I am hoping with some care during next spring they will fair better. The knockout in the center basically doubled in size. Maybe it is because it retained its leaves. The marigolds came to life during August. I think by planting everything in April/May next year, I will have some solid plants during June/July instead of Late August/September. I am pleased they did so well despite being planted in late June when the temps here were in excess of 95. In all honesty, no one in the neighborhood cares about the fence or great retaining wall we put up, everyone always comments about this corner bed. It really adds a lot of color to our white house. Now I just need to add some drip irrigation so I don't have to do anything. That project will be for is next spring.
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